Part of the paradigm of accepted international diplomacy as it is
presented today, is that Iran wishes to destroy the State of Israel and
her people. This is reinforced by the Iranian regime threatening to do
so at every opportunity. It has become a given fact, and everybody
knows and accepts this situation. It seems strange that there is no
significant attempt to question the right of a nation to threaten to
destroy another sovereign nation. But more than this, there appears to
be no attempt to understand what drives Iran to wish to destroy Israel.
The desire to conquer another nation, or the land belonging to another
nation, is relatively common and can be explained in a number of
understandable ways. The wish to destroy a nation is entirely
different, and I cannot recall another case in history where a country
has been singled out for destruction in the way that Israel has been in
recent times. The fact that the world seems to allow this, and the fact
that there would appear to be no logical reason for it, troubles me a
great deal.
It is said that, in order to present the
most effective defence against enemies, it is important to understand
your enemies, their thoughts and what drives and motivates them. With
that in mind, I have been wondering why it is that Iran wishes to
destroy Israel. Given how common it is to hear Iran's threats of
destruction, I expected to find much written and said about this in the
literature and the press. It turns out that it is exactly the opposite,
and that there is very little written on the subject. And I could find
no convincing argument that explains why the Iranian regime has the
obsession to destroy Israel So, I have tried to formulate my own views
and theories that I am sharing here now.
Many believe
that Iran's hatred for Israel forms part of the Arab-Israeli conflict
that has typified relations between Israel and the Arab world since the
State of Israel was declared in 1948. Nothing could be further from the
truth. In spite of Iran being a Muslim country in common with the rest
of the Arab world, it is certainly not an Arab country. As opposed to
the Arab world that immediately launched a war when Israel declared
independence, Iran recognised the State of Israel immediately in 1948,
and was the second Muslim country after Turkey to do so. Iran and
Israel maintained close diplomatic ties until the revolution in Iran and
the fall of the Shah in 1979.
Diplomatic relations
were immediately broken off by the Islamist regime of Ayatollah Khomeini
after the revolution, and Israel was labelled as the "Little Satan"
following in the footsteps of the "Great Satan" which was the USA. This
seems to be the point at which the hatred for Israel really began.
Ironically, and in spite of the hateful rhetoric that emanated from the
regime at that time, behind the scenes there was a great deal of close
cooperation between Iran and Israel. Much of this was driven by the 8
year-long war between Iran and Iraq. Iraq was a common enemy of both
Israel and Iran, and this created unlikely ties and reasons to
cooperate. Israel sold Iran vast quantities of arms and ammunition, in
return for which Israel received Iranian oil. It is believed that the
Iranian air force continued to operate, after it was initially attacked
by Iraq, only because of the assistance received from Israel. Iran was
also delighted when Israel audaciously succeeded in destroying Iraq's
nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981 after the Iranians failed in their
attempt to do the same. The weekly insults and denunciations of Israel
at Friday prayers by the Iranian leadership served conveniently to
conceal the fact that there were no fewer than 100 carefully hidden
Israeli advisers and technicians in Iran throughout the period of the
war.
Since that time, Iran's leaders have continued to
criticise, insult and threaten Israel at every opportunity. And nobody
has questioned for a moment why this is the case, and what justifies
this vilification and extreme sentiment. It has become a situation that
simply forms part of the diplomatic landscape. Can it be explained by
Iran's hatred towards the USA, and the fact that the Israel is seen to
be very close to the US? It is difficult for me to accept that this
explains all the public threats and the acts of terror that have been
undertaken (and continue to be undertaken) against Israel. Israel is
not the USA's only close ally. Why have other allies not been
threatened for destruction in the halls of the United Nations in the way
that Israel has been forced to endure? And, while sentiment towards
the US has wavered with different Iranian regimes (while always
maintaining its negative bias), the hatred towards Israel seems
unwavering no matter which Iranian president has been in power. The
threats against Israel have been the one pillar of consistency in
Iranian foreign policy. So I find it difficult to believe that this is
purely driven by Israel's relationship and friendship with the USA.
The
only explanation that I can offer to this extreme situation is the
resurfacing of plain, old-fashioned anti-Semitism. I use the term
"resurfacing" because the Iranians/Persians do not have a long or
consistent history of anti-Semitism. The story of Purim that took place
in Persia is a good representation of the relations that Jews and
Iranians have enjoyed over the centuries. While the king of Persia
married a Jewess (Esther) and was prepared to take action to destroy
Haman and his evil band for their anti-Semitism expressed against
Mordechai, the fact was that anti-Semitism was clearly a common thing at
that time. In more recent times the Nazis declared Iranians immune to
the Nuremburg Laws as they were considered to be pure Aryans. In spite
of this, the Shah and the Iranian government did not support the
anti-Semitism of the Nazis. With the rise to power of the Islamic
extremists in Iran in 1979, we saw the rise to power of extreme
anti-Semitism at a regime level. Ironically, this anti-Semitism was not
directed at Jews living in Iran as much as it was directed at Israel.
When Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile in Paris to take up the
leadership role immediately after the revolution, he declared, "We
recognize our Jews as separate from those godless, bloodsucking
Zionists" and he issued a fatwa decreeing that the Jews in Iran were to be protected. This did not stop
Iranian Jews from leaving Iran in large numbers. The population of
Iranian Jewry shrunk from around100,000 at the time of the revolution to
around 50,000 in the mid-1980s, to around 25,000 in the mid-1990s.
Less than 10,000 Jews are left in Iran today. Because of the
"protection" afforded to Jews living in Iran, there are those who
believe that the hatred that we see coming from Iran is not
anti-Semitism, but anti-Zionism. The problem is that the basis for this
anti-Zionism is still unexplained.
In spite of the
Iranians not being Arabs, they have enjoyed some ideals in common with
the Arabs since the revolution in Iran. The premise for the
Arab-Israeli conflict is pure anti-Semitism. The Arab world could not
accept the notion of Jews living in the Middle East on their doorstep,
and resolved to do all to destroy them and their state. The holy city
of Jerusalem has become embroiled in this war as a tool, rather than an
end. It is noticeable that no attempt was made to claim Jerusalem (and
its Muslim holy sites) by the Arabs in the period prior to the
establishment of Israel. When the Jews took control of Jerusalem, and
even in spite of granting control of the Muslim holy sites to the Waqf
Council under the chairmanship of the King of Jordan, the Arab world and
the Muslim world rose up to object. Was their objection in favour of
the Muslim holy sites, or was the objection against the presence of the
Jews? Everybody will reach their own conclusion. What is clear is that
Iran has firmly jumped on this anti-Semitic bandwagon.
Iran's
brand of Shia Islam has been a huge source of conflict with the Sunni
Islam practised by most of the Arab world. In spite of this fundamental
source of disagreement, they have found a common cause to fight against
the Jews in Israel, to fight against the existence of the State of
Israel and to use the claim of the holy city of Jerusalem for Islam as a
means to their end. The city of Jerusalem seems to be almost the only
cause and rallying point that unites all different streams of Muslims
around the world. And, by extension, the fight against Israel, the Jews
and the current regime in Jerusalem is equally a common point of
agreement between them all. Although distinct cracks are starting to
show in this quest as individual Arab countries come to the realisation
that Israel is going nowhere, and understand that cooperation with
Israel may be a better option for them than fighting the futile battle
of trying to destroy her.
The Iranians are, however,
unwavering and unashamed in their battle against Israel and her people.
They continue to sponsor Hamas and Hezbollah, amongst other terrorist
groups, that act as proxies for Iran to destroy Israel. Iran is also
responsible for numerous terror attacks orchestrated against Israeli and
Jewish targets outside of Israel. It's quest to build a nuclear weapon
that could potentially be used against Israel is clearly a cause that
any Israeli government will consider to be of highest priority. So
Iran has clearly not changed its mind, nor given up its desire to
destroy Israel in any way.
My problem is that I am still not entirely clear why Iran wants to destroy Israel.